Time to Occupy Beyonce and Jay-Z

Time to Occupy Beyonce and Jay-Z

Watch­ing this Jay-​Z and Bey­oncé Cuba the­ater play out, I can’t help but won­der why on earth we don’t have Occupy groups protest­ing in front of their New York condo. Con­sider the theme of the Occupy move­ment with its ongo­ing tirade about the so-​called 1% who sup­pos­edly have no con­sid­er­a­tion for the lit­tle guy, or in their terms, the 99%.

Now, let’s take a look at Bey­oncé and Jay Z. First of all, they decide to travel to Cuba. I don’t know what real rig­ors it takes to get approval from the Trea­sury depart­ment, and I don’t know if the White House was involved or not (though Jay-​Z insin­u­ates it was), but I have to think that just about any gov­ern­ment bureau­crat (espe­cially in the Obama admin­is­tra­tion) would approve these two based on name recog­ni­tion alone.

Once approved for travel, the famous cou­ple makes their jour­ney and is shown walk­ing the streets and waiv­ing at peo­ple, smil­ing and care­free. They are cel­e­brat­ing their 5th wed­ding anniver­sary in a Com­mu­nist coun­try known for human rights vio­la­tions. Okay, but did they at least speak out about the state of affairs in Cuba? Of course not. There is no evi­dence that they are even aware that any­thing is amiss in their vaca­tion spot.

From Human Rights Watch (HRW​.org):

Cuba remains the only coun­try in Latin Amer­ica that represses vir­tu­ally all forms of polit­i­cal dis­sent. The gov­ern­ment of Raúl Cas­tro con­tin­ues to enforce polit­i­cal con­for­mity using short-​term deten­tions, beat­ings, pub­lic acts of repu­di­a­tion, travel restric­tions, and forced exile. Although the Cuban gov­ern­ment released dozens of polit­i­cal pris­on­ers on the con­di­tion that they leave the coun­try, the gov­ern­ment con­tin­ues to sen­tence dis­si­dents in closed, sum­mary tri­als. The gov­ern­ment has also relied increas­ingly upon arbi­trary arrests and short-​term deten­tions to restrict the basic rights of its crit­ics, includ­ing the right to assem­ble and move freely.

Upon return­ing to the U.S. and observ­ing the crit­i­cism by those who rec­og­nize that this was really a thought­less trip by two peo­ple who actu­ally have the sort of influ­ence (and money) to do some good if they chose to, Jay-​Z decides to lash out in an “Open Let­ter” rap slam­ming those who dare ques­tion them (which can­not be repeated here as it is filled exple­tives. Ahhh, the “art” of a rapper.).

This self-​appointed royal cou­ple (who just bought an Island in the Caribbean, by the way. Here in Dal­las, local DJs were explain­ing what a “nec­es­sary” pur­chase the island is since the poor cou­ple can’t go any­where with­out being rec­og­nized, so nat­u­rally they had to buy an island) are either naïve, inten­tion­ally igno­rant, or will­fully dis­re­spect­ful. None of these is desirable.

Either way, I say it is time to Occupy the rich and famous, espe­cially the ones who make fools of them­selves in other coun­tries. Let’s send the masses to Justin Bieber’s house for his recent bum­bling trip to Eng­land. Let’s send crowds to visit Den­nis Rodman’s pad for his visit to North Korea (though I think a lot of Amer­i­cans think he prob­a­bly should have just stayed over there).

I never bought into the 1% vs. 99% premise, but maybe that’s only because the def­i­n­i­tion was wrong. It isn’t Wall Street bankers that are out of touch, it is the self-​appointed roy­alty of the world. They rise to fame here, tak­ing every advan­tage that cap­i­tal­ism has to offer (though most of them could never artic­u­late that) and then go make fools of them­selves abroad (to be fair, they always make fools of them­selves here first, maybe just as practice).

I’ll start mak­ing picket signs and maybe we can orga­nize some buses. Who is with me?

Watching this Jay-Z and Beyoncé Cuba theater play out, I can’t help but wonder why on earth we don’t have Occupy groups protesting in front of their New York condo. Consider the theme of the Occupy movement with its ongoing tirade about the so-called 1% who supposedly have no consideration for the little guy, or in their terms, the 99%.

Now, let’s take a look at Beyoncé and Jay Z. First of all, they decide to travel to Cuba. I don’t know what real rigors it takes to get approval from the Treasury department, and I don’t know if the White House was involved or not (though Jay-Z insinuates it was), but I have to think that just about any government bureaucrat (especially in the Obama administration) would approve these two based on name recognition alone.

Once approved for travel, the famous couple makes their journey and is shown walking the streets and waiving at people, smiling and carefree. They are celebrating their 5th wedding anniversary in a Communist country known for human rights violations. Okay, but did they at least speak out about the state of affairs in Cuba? Of course not. There is no evidence that they are even aware that anything is amiss in their vacation spot.

From Human Rights Watch (HRW.org):

Cuba remains the only country in Latin America that represses virtually all forms of political dissent. The government of Raúl Castro continues to enforce political conformity using short-term detentions, beatings, public acts of repudiation, travel restrictions, and forced exile. Although the Cuban government released dozens of political prisoners on the condition that they leave the country, the government continues to sentence dissidents in closed, summary trials. The government has also relied increasingly upon arbitrary arrests and short-term detentions to restrict the basic rights of its critics, including the right to assemble and move freely.

Upon returning to the U.S. and observing the criticism by those who recognize that this was really a thoughtless trip by two people who actually have the sort of influence (and money) to do some good if they chose to, Jay-Z decides to lash out in an “Open Letter” rap slamming those who dare question them (which cannot be repeated here as it is filled expletives. Ahhh, the “art” of a rapper.).

This self-appointed royal couple (who just bought an Island in the Caribbean, by the way. Here in Dallas, local DJs were explaining what a “necessary” purchase the island is since the poor couple can’t go anywhere without being recognized, so naturally they had to buy an island) are either naïve, intentionally ignorant, or willfully disrespectful. None of these is desirable.

Either way, I say it is time to Occupy the rich and famous, especially the ones who make fools of themselves in other countries. Let’s send the masses to Justin Bieber’s house for his recent bumbling trip to England. Let’s send crowds to visit Dennis Rodman’s pad for his visit to North Korea (though I think a lot of Americans think he probably should have just stayed over there).

I never bought into the 1% vs. 99% premise, but maybe that’s only because the definition was wrong. It isn’t Wall Street bankers that are out of touch, it is the self-appointed royalty of the world. They rise to fame here, taking every advantage that capitalism has to offer (though most of them could never articulate that) and then go make fools of themselves abroad (to be fair, they always make fools of themselves here first, maybe just as practice).

I’ll start making picket signs and maybe we can organize some buses. Who is with me?

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